This topical collection introduces you to some Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders who have effected change in civil rights, the arts, climate change activism, sovereignty movements, education, and more. Developed in partnership with District of Columbia Public Schools Office of Equity’s “Critical Conversations” Ethnic Studies curriculum, this list only scratches the surface of a longer history and legacy of AAPI change leadership. With this topical collection, educators and students will learn about seven AAPI figures who lead, and have led, at the intersections of race and gender, and through the intersections of power, privilege, and oppression.

To use this collection, we recommend following the tiles from left to right. At the far left, you will meet seven important figures. As you move across the screen to the far right, you will have access to videos, poems and articles that expand each leader’s stories through the lens of each tenet in the DCPS Critical Conversations Curriculum:

• Identity and Narrative,
• Oppression, Power, and Privilege,
• Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony,
• Transformation and Change.

The final column on the far right also includes a moment to pause and reflect on the leader’s story. Each tile includes a yellow paperclip icon on the top right. This means that the tile has more information. Please click on each individual tile which will connect the video, article, or poem, with compelling questions and additional resources related to the curriculum and its standards.

We hope that this topical collection provides you with stories that expand understandings of American histories within the United States and its reach around the world. We hope that as you meet these seven leaders, opportunities for critical conversations and critical thinking bring valuable additions to further understanding AAPI lived experiences.

This collection was developed by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in partnership with the DCPS Office of Equity. If you have questions about this collection and its content, please contact us at: APACEducation@si.edu. To learn more about the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s educational resources, please check out the Learning Together website.